VOCATIONAL TRAINING IN THE LUMBER INDUSTRY 



105 



long-leaf pine forest. Out of this total of about 10,000,- 

 000 acres of virgin forest only 2,500,000 acres remain. 

 Some of the large lumber mills have a sufficient supply 

 of timber in sight to continue operations for fifteen years, 

 but fully 80 per cent of all the mills will be without com- 

 mercial timber in eight years or thereabouts. 



Careful estimates prepared by the Texas State Depart- 

 ment of Forestry show that out of 6,000,000 acres of 

 cut-over pine lands in East Texas, known as non-agri- 

 cultural lands because of the very deep sand which covers 

 this area and makes it unsuited to farming, only 850,000, 

 or 14 per cent, are supporting a second growth of timber 

 from which the mills may hope to obtain a supply. With- 

 out sufficient funds to safeguard the standing trees 

 against forest fires or to promote their planting and care, 

 the East Texas forests face ultimate and speedy destruc- 

 tion unless steps are taken to correct existing evils. 



A practical forest program, as outlined by S. O. Siecke, 

 State Forester, provides for a practical policy of refor- 

 estation comprising more than 5,000,000 acres and yield- 

 ing approximately 300 board feet per acre per annum, 

 thus taking care of the demands made upon the timber 

 stand by the 400 sawmills in East Texas. It will be plain 

 to every thinking reader that there is no time to be lost 

 to put into effect a consistent forestry policy in Texas, 

 and safeguard one of the most important industries of 

 the country. 



Consistent progress in the work of reforestation has 

 not been possible by the State Forestry Department be- 

 cause of lack of adequate funds. The sum of $12,000 a 

 year appropriated by the State is insufficient to meet the 

 demands of controlling an area of 7,500,000 acres, with 

 nine patrolmen employed by the State and two by the 

 United States Forest Service. The Federal Govern- 

 ment contributed the sum of $4,250 this year toward 

 forest protection in Texas. 



It is not with an abstract matter that the legislature will 

 be called upon to deal, but with a problem on which there 

 are statistics and an abundance of authentic information 

 which the committee will be able to present in support of 

 their recommendations, and as a guide for their action. 



VOCATIONAL TRAINING IN THE 

 LUMBER INDUSTRY 



"PURSUANT to the plan of Melvin S. Lewis, State 

 * Director of Vocational Education, to introduce voca- 

 tional training under the Smith-Hughes Act into the lum- 

 ber industry in co-operation with the School of Forestry 

 of the University of Idaho, Mr. C. E. Knouf, of the 

 United States Forest Service, was engaged to study the 

 situation in the mills and camps of Idaho and make defi- 

 nite plans for the organization of classes this winter. 

 Following this preliminary investigation by Mr. Knouf, 

 a class in lumber grading was organized at the plant of 

 the Rutledge Timber Company, at Coeur d'Alene, and 

 Mr. L. R. McCoy, sales manager of the company, en- 

 gaged as instructor. At the first meeting 43 men report- 

 ed tor the course, including several men from the local 

 office of the United States Forest Service. This was 

 more than three times the most optimistic previous esti- 



mate of the number of men who would desire to take the 

 course, but after the outline of the work presented at 

 the first exercise, it was still further increased when 

 60 men reported at the second meeting. This augurs 

 well for the success of the vocational training plan in the 

 lumber industry. 



The course is outlined to include a history of lumber 

 grading, characteristics of different woods and their 

 identification from gross features, classes of defects, 

 their cause and relative importance, grading rules and 

 actual grading of the different species of the region 

 starting with white fir of which only two grades are rec- 

 ognized and ending with white pine, the grading of which 

 is most complex; then shop grades and finally the char- 

 acteristics of the trees and methods of sawing to get the 

 maximum proportion of high grade material. 



Mr. Knouf is now investigating the logging end of the 

 business in a similar way and it is planned to organize 

 a class in scaling the first part of the year. 



FOREST SERVICE RECEIPTS FOR 1920 



TN spite of the fact that a depleted and over-burdened 

 * personnel made it necessary for the Forest Service to 

 refuse at some places to take on new business, the re- 

 ceipts from the National Forests in the fiscal year 1920 

 exceeded those of- 1919 by $435,067.42 and set a new 

 high mark of $4,793,482, according to the annual report 

 of Chief Forester W. B. Greeley. The year was also 

 marked by one of the severest and most protracted fire 

 seasons ever known, which necessitated the expenditure 

 of considerable sums for the protection of the National 

 Forests and required a deficiency appropriation of 

 $2,950,000 in addition to the regular funds provided for 

 the purpose. 



"The increase in receipts from timber sales," says the 

 report, "reflects the increasing demand being made upon 

 the National- Forests as privately owned timber is ex- 

 hausted and the forest industries move westward. If 

 funds are provided for the examination and sale of 

 National Forest timber now in demand, the receipts 

 from timber sales may be expected to increase still more 

 rapidly until the cut reaches the limit that must be im- 

 posed to maintain a continuous yield from the forests and 

 give stability to the industries and communities dependent 

 upon them." 



In addition to the actual revenue, according to the re- 

 port, there is an enormous return to the public through 

 the protection of the 500 odd billion feet of timber for 

 future use, the protection of the headwaters of innumer- 

 able feeders of navigation, irrigation and hydroelectric 

 power, and the recreational facilities made available to 

 hundreds of thousands of people. "There will always be 

 national resources not measurable in dollars which in 

 public benefit exceed the receipts paid into the Treas- 

 ury," the report says. 



During the fiscal year about one million acres in the 

 Thunder Mountain Region of Idaho were added to the 

 Idaho and Payette Forests. More than 654,000 acres in 

 the Eastern States purchased under the Weeks Law were 

 also proclaimed as Narional Forests. 



